He didn't know anything about his house Plumbing, at all.......

He called for a "free estimate" I said well better than that I will tell you how much I will charge you to do each and everything you need. I asked, what do you need, he said his "bathroom dripped", "how much would you charge me to fix it" I replied, what do you mean? your bathroom drips? he said "well out of that thing where the water comes out it wont stop. I said The tub spout, the shower head the lavatory the toilet what? he said yea.... I said which one? he replied the shower. I said the shower head ? he said no the thing that the water comes out of, so I said the tub spout? he said yea like I was real dumb. I said is it a single handle or two or three handle tub and shower or just a tub and does it have a third handle in middle or is it a diverter spout....he did not know, he asked if I gave free estimates, I said yea I am trying to do that...finally I got out of him it was a single handle tub and shower and it had a diverter spout that dripped. whew, he had no idea how many handles/knobs in his Tub/shower ....So I told him $250 for parts and labor because I determined he had a $80 cartridge and wanted new handle and trim with spout. Then he asked for a price on a Lavatory faucet after me prying that out I asked is it a single handle 4" one piece faucet or one with separate hot and cold handles and 3 separate parts, Hot & Cold with a spout in the middle. This was too much for him but we worked out the nomenclature and he had a wide spread lav faucet that needed repair, I gave him a price excluding a service charge since the $250 quote already had that in it. So, I said $100 for the Widespread repair. he said "you mean you want $350 dollars just to fix two drips?" I said yes I do, parts labor ,tax service call included with my million dollar insurance and 35 yrs. experience. He after having to drag his totally unknowing mind thru what it was he needed he said "oh that is too much" I said too much! you haven't even a clue what it is we are talking about doing how long of time and cost of parts (OEM Domestic). but you know that is too much? I said you don't know anything about Plumbing do you? he said "not a thing" I said then how do you know I am not giving you the parts for cost and working for minimum wage? "cause your a Plumber", "You over charge". I said I am sorry you are in the same bad economy as I am, I know how it is. so he responded, " so you will do it for half of that?" I said no, I cant do it at all for you. You are not being realistic, call another Plumber to get a price or wait till you find out how much it will actually cost at the end of the task.

This is a very common conversation to a Plumber from a consumer, my point is? I earn my money, most people prejudge too often and assume others are in a better world, we are not, we are all in this together.

Greg,

thanks for listening, I feel better now, oh Lawyers are the the real crooks! right?